Awards & Reviews

June 25, 2017

2nd Place TATE Award Win for The Last Days of Judas Iscariot

Theatre Pops took home 6 awards at the TATE (Tulsa Area Theatre Excellence) Awards Gala on Sunday, June 25th, 2017. Theatre Pops won 2nd place for its production of The Last Days of Judas Iscariot. This award came with a $5,000 cash prize that will be used for the 2017/18 theatre season. Chris Williams took home the Excellence in Acting award for the title role of Judas in the same production. Other acting awards went to Michelle Cullom and Thomas Hunt for their roles in that show. Freddie Tate and Cornelius Johnson took also took home acting awards for their roles in Theatre Pops’ production of All the Way.

April 5, 2017

A Trial for the Ages

by Michael Wright, The Tulsa Voice

Theatre Pops’ production of “The Last Days of Judas Iscariot” is a bold choice here in the Bible belt. The play takes on the title character, Judas—persistently reviled throughout history—in the form of a trial to determine his ultimate fate. Utilizing strong language, many of the characters speak more like people from the New York City streets than inhabitants of Purgatory. This is part of the play’s genius: we are never mired in the turgid speech often found in historical dramas. Read More

April 4, 2017

ARTS: Review of “The Last Days of Judas Iscariot”

by James D. Watts Jr., Tulsa World

About all we know of Judas Iscariot is his last days.
Those days began with his striking a deal with local political and religious officials to betray the teacher he had followed for years and ended with his ignominious death by suicide.
Within these scant facts, however, are the seeds of some potent philosophical debates — faith, forgiveness, free will, just to list the ones that begin with the letter F.Read More

February 19, 2017

ARTS: ‘Wild Party’ immerses audience in dark, tragic world

by James D. Watts Jr., Tulsa World

The world into which Theatre Pops wants to immerse you with its production of Andrew Lippa’s “The Wild Party” is probably not the world you’re expecting.
The company opened its production Friday in the Blue Dome District’s IDL Ballroom, using the venue’s main stage and three other platforms set up among the cocktail tables, so that the action takes place in and around the audience.Read More

August 31, 2016

ARTS: Review of ‘Heathers: The Musical’ by Theatre Pops

by James D. Watts Jr., Tulsa World

At Westerberg High School in Sherwood, Ohio, the kids, most definitely, are not all right. And that’s OK.
Just about every deplorable thing teenagers have been known to do — from throwing wild parties while the parents are out of town and gleefully bullying anyone deemed “unacceptable” to suicide and murder — happens during the course of the fall semester of 1989, the year in which “Heathers: The Musical” is set.Read More

August 14, 2015

ARTS: Theatre Pops’ “Spamalot” is all silliness

by James D. Watts Jr., Tulsa World

People who take part in community theater do so primarily because they enjoy what they do. Often, that enjoyment is the only compensation they receive for weeks of hard work.
And I haven’t seen a cast enjoy what it does with as much obvious, manic glee as that of Theatre Pops’ production of “Monty Python’s Spamalot.”Read More

June 22, 2015

TATE awards honor Tulsa theater community

by James D. Watts Jr., Tulsa World

Theatre Pops’ production of Tulsa native Tracy Letts’ epic drama “August: Osage County” won the award for Outstanding Play at the 2014-15 Tulsa Awards for Theater Excellence ceremony, held Sunday night at Cain’s Ballroom.
The award earned Theatre Pops a cash prize of $10,000. It is the second straight year that Theatre Pops has won at the TATE awards — its production of “Seminar” was the third-place winner last year.Read More

January 10, 2015

Review: “August: Osage County” by Theatre Pops

Theatre Pops’ production of “Osage County” features some of Tulsa’s best actors, and they’re riveting.

by James D. Watts Jr., Tulsa World

When the national touring production of “August: Osage County” came to Tulsa in January 2010, playwright Tracy Letts was asked how he wanted audiences to respond to his epic drama.
“What I would hope this audience takes away from this night,” Letts said, “is: This is our play. This is ours.”Read More